The authors are retracting Development (2017) 144, 2200-2211 (doi:10.1242/dev.146894).
The authors state: ‘We request retraction of our article because we have discovered that a major conclusion is not correct. We had reported that Btbd7 is a crucial regulator of branching morphogenesis in vivo because a genetic deletion in the Btbd7 gene in mice disrupted branching morphogenesis of salivary gland, lung and kidney. However, after extensive inbreeding of our mouse model and outcrossing to reduce genetic variability, we have found and verified that our Btbd7 homozygous mice with ablation of both BTB domains appear viable and healthy, at least into early adulthood. Although we have found no reason to question our in vitro cell culture findings, because a central conclusion of our study was the striking in vivo mouse phenotype affecting several organs and viability, we feel that the responsible course must be to retract this publication. We speculate that we had mistakenly studied a deleterious passenger mutation that we separated from the Btbd7 gene disruption by further breeding. We will continue to evaluate the function of Btbd7.’
All authors agree with this retraction and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
